Easily add artistic elements to your photos
Price: Free (IAPs)
Size: 216.2 MB
Version: 1.0.14
Developer: Lightricks
Platform: iPhone / iPad
It used to be that photo editing apps on the App Store were becoming ever more bloated, as the devices got more powerful and the desire for complex Photoshop-style capabilities grew.
There’s plenty of tools to edit a range of images from selfies to skies
However, it seems many users aren’t particularly interested in spending hours learning the ins and outs of these editing suites, and this is a market Lightricks and its range of image manipulation tools is well and truly capitalizing on.
For Artleap, the approach is simple – to add over-the-top style to images in a flash to really make them pop. It does this through some neat tricks including double exposures, dispersions, and shattering effects – or even replacing the entire sky with something a little more dramatic.
Stylise your photos with a wide range of options
It does these instantaneously, and it does these well. The app is intelligent enough to ensure the effect embeds itself in the image naturally. Foreground and background blend seamlessly around the subject of your chosen photo.
Additionally, there are some charmingly bizarre pre-made scenes you can add your own photos to. If you’ve ever wanted to visualize yourself inside a snowglobe or floating through space, now’s your chanec.
These effects can also be combined – with varying results – while there are also ways to keep things simple with a series of more conventional filters.
All the styles are automated, but you can edit their coverage and intensity
You can also edit the intensity of the effects through simple sliders, or amend the area the effect is added to if the auto-magical sensor gets things wrong.
But while there are plenty of great-looking features, it can feel a bit gimmicky after a while and there’s not much ‘replay value’ once you’ve tried out all the effects.
Some tools are simple and familiar, such as easy filters
However, that doesn’t take away from the fun of playing around and sharing your creations. And there are a ton of effects to choose from. The majority are behind a paywall, but you can use a good handful for free. To use all premium features it’s $6 a month, or less if you pay for a longer period.
Whether you’ll want the app for a longer period isn’t certain, but in the short term at least, it’s a real gem. You’ll struggle to find anything similar that works this well or this easily. With Artleap, you really can create eye-popping imagery in just a few taps.